


Rain/Weather

by soldiermom1973



Series: Sunday Sprints [2]
Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Sunday Sprint, Vancouver, house arrest, prompt, rain/weather, rainstorm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-10-30 14:00:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17829908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soldiermom1973/pseuds/soldiermom1973
Summary: Shepard contemplates a rainstorm in Vancouver





	Rain/Weather

**Author's Note:**

> Today's sprint at MEFFW was 'Rain/Weather'. I couldn't come up with something for my WIP, so here's a stand alone piece. I haven't edited it and it really doesn't have an ending, but the point of sprinting is to write. I might play with it later & polish it up, but for now, I hope you enjoy reading it as it is.

It was strange, seeing rain for the first time on Vancouver. Commander Shepard had been under house arrest for about a month when the sky suddenly darkened. He could barely make out the distant rumble of thunder and watched through the window as the people on the sidewalks below scurried for cover. It started slowly at first – heavy, fat drops that seemed to fight gravity as they made their way to the rooftops and sidewalks. Then the speed picked up and within seconds, the lazy rain had become a deluge.

As the water plinked against the glass of his window, Shepard realized that he hadn't really been anywhere long enough to notice changes in the weather. Arcturus was in space, so no weather. The Citadel's sunshine was fake and never changed. One could argue there were the snowstorms on Noveria or the rain on Pragia, but it always snowed on Noveria and they weren't on Pragia long enough to witness anything other than torrential downpours.

He leaned forward, bracing his arm against the window, wishing he could be outside. Seeing the rain form puddles and small streams stirred a longing in his heart he hadn't felt since he was a kid. He smiled, thinking back to his youth on Mindoir, running around with his friends, laughing and splashing in the puddles, throwing mudballs at each other, then panicking when they realized their parents would kill them for getting so dirty. He was in his 30s now, but still wanted to play outside and splash in the puddles.

“Commander? You ok?”

Lieutenant Vega poked his head through the door, making one of his regular checks on his charge.

“You aren't supposed to call me that, James.”

“I know, sir. Old habits and all that. Mind if I come in?”

Shepard nodded, not taking his attention from the scene outside. “You ever play in the rain, Vega?”

“Sir?”

“When you were a kid. Did you grow up somewhere where it rained like this and you ran around, splashing in puddles, watching leaves float through a drainage ditch and into a gutter?”

“Yes, sir. Haven't done that for a while, though. Why?”

“No reason, really,” Shepard murmured, letting out a heavy sigh. “Just... I don't know. I guess this storm made me realize that all the time I spent in space kept me away from a lot of things. You wouldn't think that you'd miss something as simple as the rain when you spend years flitting from ship to ship.”

The younger man moved next to the disgraced commander and crossed his massive arms over his equally massive chest. “I guess not, sir,” he replied, giving the weather outside the same attention Shepard did.

The pair stood together in silence as lighting flashed across the sky and the accompanying thunder rattled the windows. “It's October,” Shepard mused, finally breaking the silence. “I'll probably be here long enough to watch all kinds of weather. The leaves will probably change soon, then there'll be snow...”

“Have you been here before, Commander? To Vancouver, I mean?”

“No,” Shepard shook his head. “I have... had a good friend who grew up around here somewhere. Still has family close by, too, as far as I know.”

“You want to give me a name? I can see if I can arrange a visit or something,” James offered.

“Oh, I think that'd be a bad idea, James,” Shepard chuckled. “The last time we spoke, he wasn't very happy with me. I don't somehow think he'd want to come here and pay me a visit.”


End file.
